Book Discussions

Books used:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Handa’s Surprise, Crow Boy, Each Kindness, Flat Stanley, Goodnight Moon, Chicken Soup with Rice, The House that Jack Built

Materials needed:
Video clips, pictures, PowerPoint presentation

Brief outline of program or event:
Present narrative and demonstrative materials on the establishment of libraries in public elementary schools, doing read alouds to elementary school students with extension activities, reading comprehension classes to older high school students and workshop on the magic and values of children’s literature.

Friends Seminary Service Learning Director, Leitzel Schoen, and Librarian Kelly Grimmett worked with Kindergarden and first grade students to create this resource as a service to the Lower School community during our annual celebration of Peace Week. This resource can work equally well as a basis for celebrating International Children’s Book Day. Using the Google map (http://goo.gl/maps/M7AvU) families are invited to read these stories and to consider using them as a launching point for a family discussion about peace and nonviolent communication. Click on each marker on the map to learn about the plot, access online resources, and receive a peace query to guide a family in reflection.

Books used: Literature that addresses the theme of names/naming (preferably books that represent a variety of cultures around the world, e.g., Hannah is My Name (Yang), My Name is Bilal (Mobin-Uddin), My Name is Jorge (Medina), My Name Is Sangoel (Williams & Mohammed), My Name is Yoon (Recorvits), My Name Was Hussein (Kyuchukov), The Name Jar (Choi)Materials needed:
Chart paper, markers

Before the Lesson: • Facilitate a discussion with students on the topic, “What is a Picture Book?” • Study the aesthetics of picture books (explain important features of these texts) • Show students how they “work” • Provide various examples of books for students to browse Procedures: • Assign students to small groups and give each group a choice of the picture book that they wish to read/analyze. • Ask students in each group to play a role: Reader (who will read the book aloud to the rest of the group), Writer (who will write the thoughts of the group on the chart paper), and Speaker (who will share the thoughts of the group with the rest of the class). • While students are reading their respective texts, post potential discussion questions on the board for them to address on their chart paper after reading. Some sample questions include: 1. Why was the character’s name important to him or her? What actions/words showed the importance? 2. What conflict arose because of the character’s name? How was the conflict resolved? 3. How would you have reacted to the conflict? 4. What cultural variations (differences from your own culture) did you identify in the text? Similarities? 5. What is the “story” of your name? • Have the speaker for each group share some of the main points of the group’s discussion with the entire class. Encourage other students to build off of these points for a more in-depth discussion. Extension: There are several directions in which this lesson can continue, for example, a writing lesson (a personal narrative) can stem from the discussion of question #5 (What is the story of your name?). There is also a connection to Social Studies, where students can research the cultural history of their name.